"I forgot to mention that, while the boats were employed in landing the people, those on board had thrown the ends of several hawsers on shore, which the peasantry made fast to the rock, and which being hauled taut on board, they could go on shore upon them with great ease. Two men, however, being intoxicated, fell off the hawsers into the water, and perished. These, together with four marines, who lay upon deck dead-drunk at the time we came away, and who, I believe, were not afterwards carried on shore, are, as far as I know, all that suffered on this occasion. "Having a fair wind, we set the jolly-boat's sail for a fore sail, then made a sparing breakfast and thought to recruit our spirits with a dram, when, to our great disappointment, we found we had nothing but wine. This was not the greatest of our misfortune, for, upon broaching our water, we found it so strongly impregnated with the varnish with which the cask had been so frequently laid over, that it was scarcely drinkable, and even made some of us sick. "One of the men having, fortunately, some sail needles in his pocket, all hands turned to sail-making, some sewing, others unlaying rope, and making it into twine. A table-cloth and a sheet sewed together made an excellent main sail; and out of a piece of canvas we happened to have in the boat we contrived to make a mizen sail, so that in a couple of hours we had a complete suit. "About twelve o'clock we were much alarmed by being becalmed among the Penmark rocks, and they were obliged to pull hard to avoid being dashed to pieces against them. We soon afterwards had a fine breeze, and about five found ourselves close in with the land, a few miles to the southward of Cape Roz. The wind was so scant that we could barely lie along shore, and were obliged to pass several signal posts, at each of which the enemy had a gun, so that we every moment expected to be fired at. I believe by our being so badly rigged, and white sail, they took us for Frenchmen. "About dusk, we had another narrow escape among a reef of rocks, which lay off Cape Roz, and upon which we were set by a very heavy swell and a strong tide. It was now nearly dark, and, as it had every appearance of blowing hard, we ran down into a deep bay, a little to the southward of Brest Harbour, purposing to come to an anchor till the morning; but in luffing up round a point, under which we intended to take shelter, we were much surprised by the appearance of something like a fort, and soon found our fears realised when the sentinel hailed us in French, which he did twice. We now bore up, and made sail from it as fast as we could, and I fancy were out of reach before they could get a gun ready, as we saw a number of lights moving about.